Theme: Delivering accessible and science-ready radio data
Basis-agnostic Polarization Calibration Heuristics Support in CASA
Traditional linear polarization calibration functionality in user-oriented software packages for synthesis interferometry have tended to hard-code for a specific range of assumptions about observing properties and conditions (e.g., for the particular instrument they principally support), most notably the polarization basis of the receivers. This limits flexibility in supporting diverse instruments, including more diverse hardware on specific instruments, and complicates the development of high-level pipelines which must incorporate complicated logic to discern the appropriate heuristics to apply. We here review the basis-specific properties produced by modern synthesis instruments like ALMA and Jansky VLA, and describe recent CASA polarization calibration developments that endeavor to permit a more basis-agnostic approach in automated processing.
